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GO Transit ticket proposal cheered by Toronto FC fans

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is negotiating with GO to give soccer fans a cheaper transit ride to BMO Field, where parking is hard to come by.

The Exhibition GO train station, located at the base of the Gardiner Expressway, provides a convenient way for Toronto FC fans to arrive at BMO Field, which is chronically short of parking spots. (DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR)

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and GO Transit are teaming up to provide a better pre- and post-game experience for soccer fans, who struggle to find parking near BMO Field for Toronto FC games.

Negotiations for a joint ticket deal that would give fans a free or discounted GO ride to games are still in the early stages, MLSE and GO officials said Monday.

MLSE’s vice-president of marketing, Shannon Hosford, described it as a pilot project.

“It’s a good starting point to see how it would work, and if it is such a benefit to our fans, we can examine other opportunities in the future,” she said.

It’s not clear whether any money would change hands. However, it “would likely be a combination” of cross-promotion and cash, said Hosford, who said the two sides are meeting this week.

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“Again, we’re not even down to those details,” she said.

MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke leaked word about the idea at a Saturday meeting of season-ticket holders.

Toronto FC fans have complained about limited parking near the field. Exhibition Place has 6,500 parking spaces. But BMO Field holds crowds of up to 21,500, and MLSE, which owns the Major League Soccer team, expects a sold-out season with new high-profile players attracting fan interest.

The crowds would get even bigger if Toronto City Council approves an MLSE proposal that would provide $10 million in city funding toward a $120 million expansion of BMO Field. That would increase the seating capacity to 30,000, plus an additional 10,000 temporary seats.

The proposal goes before council’s April 1 meeting.

The stadium expansion could also make BMO Field home to the Toronto Argonauts. That team’s lease for the Rogers Centre expires in 2017.

The MLSE promotion would be different from GO’s usual practice of offering joint tickets for special events at the ROM and AGO, the CNE and the Royal Winter Fair. Those tend to be one-offs, said Anne Marie Aikins of Metrolinx, the provincial agency that runs GO. This would be a regular, ongoing commitment to riders, who could go to the games using GO’s Exhibition stop.

The sports promotion could potentially attract new GO riders at non-rush-hour times when there is extra capacity on the trains, she said.

“We would have to talk about how that would benefit both of us without costing taxpayers more,” she said.

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